Game Mechanics in the Design of a Collaborative 3D Serious Game

Background. This article investigates the potential of utilizing game mechanics in designing 3-D serious games for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and attempt to produce new information about designing collaborative serious games. Aim. This article has two aims: first, to clarify how theoretical knowledge of collaborative learning was related to game design in previous studies; and, second, to design a collaborative serious game based on theoretical knowledge of collaborative learning and game design. Results. The reviewed studies revealed the potential of using collaborative games in education. However, they showed that collaborative learning games were typically designed …

Challenge of supporting vocational learning: Empowering collaboration in a scripted 3D game – How does teachers’ real-time orchestration make a difference?

Along with the development of new technologies, orchestrating computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has become a topic of discussion because new learning spaces challenge teacher to support collaborative learning in new ways. However, despite the optimistic notions of teachers’ orchestration in CSCL situations, there are still no systematic research findings on real-time orchestration. This study is one attempt to fill in the knowledge gap on understanding the differences in knowledge construction processes between settings with and without teachers’ real time orchestration in 3D learning games from a socio-cultural perspective. The aims of the study are twofold. The first aim is…

Game bridge : kohti ammatillisia avaintaitoja

Tulevaisuuden työelämässä korostuvat eri alojen välinen moniammatillinen verkottunut yhteistyö sekä jae­tun ymmärryksen muodostuminen. Tämän myötä myös vuorovaikutus-, ongelmanratkaisu- ja yhteistyötaitojen kehittäminen ovat keskeisessä roolissa työelämässä pärjäämisen kannalta. Näiden asioiden opettaminen ja havainnollistaminen perinteisin menetelmin on haastavaa ja jää helposti oppiainesisältöjen varjoon. Game Bridge -hankkeessa toteutettu 3D-oppimisympäristö havainnollistaa työyhteisön, sosiaalisten suhteiden, kiireen ja tiedon kulun merkitystä työstä suoriutumiselle. Ympäristö mahdollistaa abstraktin asian harjoittelun työelämävalmiuksien parantamiseksi. Ympäristön päätarkoituksena on k…

Collaborative 3D learning games for future learning: teachers’ instructional practices to enhance shared knowledge construction among students

Collaborative games will enable new kinds of possibilities for learning. In the future, the goal of game-based learning should be to introduce new ideas and deepen in-depth understanding of learners. However, studies have shown that shared high-level knowledge construction is a challenging process. Moreover, thus far, few empirical studies have examined what constitutes the teacher’s role in games. The focus of this paper is to investigate teachers’ real-time instructional activities in a scripted 3D game setting. Our hypothesis is that groups with real-time teacher instruction will come up with more shared knowledge construction that can be considered productive than groups studying withou…

Learning from Social Collaboration

This chapter focuses on the challenge of evaluating game-based learning. It argues that linking game-based learning with the characteristics of a specific game or game-produced engagement is challenging. It further proposes a framework in which the game-based learning process is approached by considering (business) simulation games as Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) environments and presents an approach on how learning can be approached and evaluated from this perspective. In addition, it highlights how simulation game mechanics appears to be a potential way to promote learners' socio-emotional processes and give rise to social interaction and to structure collaboration amo…

Serious game design : supporting collaborative learning and investigating learners' experiences

How to Raise Different Game Collaboration Activities : The Association Between Game Mechanics, Players' Roles and Collaboration Processes

Background. Designing collaborative three-dimensional (3D) learning games is one way to enhance the quality of learning and respond to the needs of working life. However, there is little research on how to apply different game mechanics to support different educational aims.Aim. This study determines how game mechanics implemented within computer-supported collaboration roles (scripted vs. emergent) are associated with the emergence of collaboration.Method. The research at hand applies both qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The target group consisted of 15 vocational school students. The data were gathered by recording the groups’ discussions and saving the game logs. A total o…

Perceived Sociability and Social Presence in a Collaborative Serious Game

Collaborative serious games have proven to have the potential to support joint knowledge construction, and there is a growing interest in applying such games to promote high-level learning. However, most of the existing studies have focused on the effects of functional, task-specific support while ignoring the social aspects of collaborative learning. This study is one aim to fill in the knowledge gap in order to understand how learners experience educational games as a means of social interaction and collaboration. The findings indicated that the game environment facilitated and supported players’ socio-emotional processes by eliciting students’ social presence and sociability. This has be…

Assessing game experience: Heart rate variability, in-game behavior and self-report measures

Assessing game experience by means of recordings of physiological reactions elicited during game play is a technique that has gained popularity in recent years in the field of digital games research. However, since physiological signals are typically linked to several psychological processes, the use of some measures such as cardiac activity or heart rate (HR) remains problematic. The goal of the present study is to investigate to what extent game logs and self-report measures of game experience have a predictive value for heart rate variability during game play. Our results showed that the accurate registration of in-game behaviors by means of game logs carries the potential of providing r…

Subjective Experience and Sociability in a Collaborative Serious Game

The meaning of social dimension of gaming for enjoyable and engaging game experiences is supported by an increasing amount of research. Nonetheless, this issue has rarely been studied in the context of serious games. This study attempts to narrow the knowledge gap in the understanding of collaborative serious game experiences and the relationship between the social dimension of gaming and core game experiences. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate what kinds of game experiences are generated when playing collaborative serious game and how the sense of social presence and the sociability of the environment are connected to the core game experience. Findings reinforce the idea…

Designing and analyzing collaboration in a scripted game for vocational education

This study attempts to combine the technological possibilities of 3D-game environments and collaborative learning scripts. The study is a design experiment (N=64) with multiple data collection and analysis (quantitative and qualitative) methods. The aims were twofold: The aim was to develop a game environment to simulate issues of work safety in a vocational context and to answer the following questions on the basis of an empirical study: (1) What kind of activities did the scripted game environment generate among the players? (2) How did the least and the most successful groups differ in this respect despite the same scripted game environment? Findings indicated that scripted game environm…

Pelaa ja opi : räätälöityjä verkkopelejä ammatilliseen oppimiseen

Yhä useammalle ammatillisen koulutuksen oppijalle erilaiset virtuaaliset toiminta- ja peliympäristöt ovat keskeinen osa arkipäivää. Työelämässä puolestaan on asioita, joiden etukäteisharjoittelu on vaikeaa, kallista ja jopa vaarallista. Virtuaaliset peliympäristöt voivat tarjota ratkaisun tähän ongelmaan. Tutkimukset osoittavat, että parhaimmillaan pelit voivat parantaa oppimisen laatua ja tehostaa toimintaa, luoda kiinnostavia oppimistilanteita, auttaa sitoutumaan tehtävien suorittamiseen, ohjata käyttäytymistä ja ongelmanratkaisua sekä edistää yhdessä toimimisen taitoja. Lisäksi virtuaalimaailmassa pelaamisen avulla voidaan havainnollistaa vaarallisia tai pitkäkestoisia tilanteita sekä au…